6 Financial Steps to Take After Marriage

The wedding cake is eaten, the relatives have all gone home, and thank you cards have been written. You are newly married. So what do you do now? Well now is the perfect time in your marriage to plan for your future, specifically your financial future. And there are many steps you should take to ensure the financial future of your marriage is bright. Here are 6 Financial Steps to Take After Marriage.

Financial Step 1: Pull your credit reports from all three sources.

Checking out your credit scores is a great starting place in preparing for your future. You can get an honest look at each other’s histories, and once you know truly where the other person is coming from the decisions you make while planning are more educated. (If you can take this step before walking down the aisle that is even better.)

Financial Step 2: Change or add your names.

This may seem like an obvious step, deciding whether or not to change your name after marriage. However, deciding to change your name simply by legally changing your driver’s license and social security cards is only the first place to start. Here is a listing of all of the places that you may want to consider changing your name or adding your spouses name.

Financial Step 3: Decide if you are going to file taxes jointly or separately.

Within many marriages couples opt to file jointly on their taxes. However, this is not the smart decision for everyone. See a tax professional to help you make the appropriate decision for you and your spouse.

Financial Step 4: Merge your accounts and get rid of duplicate bills.

This an area that requires a lot of consideration. Pulling your credit reports as you did in step one provides you with a pretty clear picture of each of your financial histories. From there you can decide whether or not you wish to fully merge, partially merge, or try to keep your finances as separate as possible within your marriage. Some areas that you may consider merging are the following.

Bank Accounts

Credit Cards – Even you do decide to merge these, I recommend that each individual be the primary card holder on at least one card. This is especially important if one spouse is thinking about becoming a stay at home parent. Credit cards can no longer be obtained using household income to determine credit worthiness (you have to use your individual salary or income).

Savings and Investment Accounts

Insurance

Loans

Services such as cell phone plans, gym memberships, etc. Many times by merging accounts you can save money in monthly fees.

Financial Step 5: Start tracking your finances.

Once you have pulled credit reports and decided whether or not to merge your finances, now is the perfect time to start tracking your expenses as I discussed in Living on One Income: One Family’s Process. Tracking your expenses is a fool proof way to help you figure out how each of you spends money, where improvements can be made, and to hold yourself accountable when you start Step 6.

Financial Step 6: Start planning and saving for the future.

What are plans for you as a couple in the short term? Do you want to travel, do you want to buy a new car, do you want to pay off your student loans? And what are your plans for the long term? Do you want buy a house or have children? If you haven’t already or even if you have, have these discussions when you first get married.

Taking the time to plan for the future can be an exciting prospect, and taking the time to create the habit of having an open dialogue about money can really help prepare your marriage for both the good times and the bad times when you might have unexpected financial struggles such as a surprise pregnancy or other surprise health issues.

Kelly Kinkaid

Check out the following posts for more information about marriage and financial planning:

About Kelly Kinkaid

Kelly Kinkaid, professional blogger and freelance writer, enjoys writing about such topics as stretching a dollar, personal finance, diet and fitness, and living a life well lived. She spends all of her spare time in her many roles including but not limited to soccer, basketball, swimmer, band, and piano mom, runner and wife. You may also contact her on Twitter as @Kellyology, or on Facebook.

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The name change process is such a pain. I have even been using one of those services that helps you fill out the paperwork (I got MissNowMrs through a Groupon, but there are lots of such services), and I’m still working on it… more than a year after the wedding day! :-/

Hi! I'm Kelly Whalen, writer, frugality expert, debt slayer, and money nerd. Welcome to the Centsible Life, my corner of the internet, where I help women live happier, healthier, and wealthier lives. My goal is to help you save time + money, so you can spend both how you want.

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